Infant&#39;s garment bib

ABSTRACT

AN INFANT&#39;&#39;S GARMENT BIB COMPRISES A GARMENT PORTION FOR CLOTHING AT LEAST THE TORSO OF AN INFANT AND HAVING A NECK OPENING AND A FRONT SIDE. A BIB PORTION IS LOCATED ON THE FRONT SIDE SURROUNDING IN PART THE NECK OPENING AND BEING INTEGRAL WITH THE GARMENT PORTION. THE BIB PORTION IS COMPOSED OF AT LEAST TWO LAYERS OF MATERIAL SUPERIMPOSED UPON ONE ANOTHER WITH THE LAYER CLOSEST TO THE GARMENT PORTION CONSTITUTING A PADDING MATERIAL OF FOAM, FIBROUS SLIVER OR THE LIKE. THE LAYERS ARE ADHERED TO ONE ANOTHER AND TO THE GARMENT PORTION ALONG CERTAIN LINES WHICH DEFINE THE CONTOUR LINES OF A RAISED THREE-DIMENSIONAL PADDED RESILIENT APPLIQUE.

Sept. 28, 1971 M. A. TARANTO INFANT'S GARMENT BIB Filed Dec. 24, 1969 INVENTOR EL 4 nan/n,

ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,608,092 Patented Sept. 28., 1971 3,608,092 INFANTS GARMENT BIB Michael A. Taranto, Demerest, N .J., assignor to Glen Designs Incorporated, Englewood, NJ. Filed Dec. 24, 1969, Ser. No. 887,967 Int. Cl. A41d 13/04 US. Cl. 2-49R 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An infants garment bib comprises a garment portion for clothing at least the torso of an infant and having a neck opening and a front side. A bib portion is located on the front side surrounding in part the neck opening and being integral with the garment portion. The bib portion is composed of at least two layers of material superimposed upon one another with the layer closest to the garment portion constituting a padding material of foam, fibrous sliver or the like. The layers are adhered to one another and to the garment portion along certain lines which define the contour lines of a raised three-dimensional padded resilient appliqu.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to an infants garment, and more particularly to an infants garment bib.

The term infant as herein utilized is to be understood as referring to a child of any age which requires a bib. Accordingly, the term infants garment bib refers to any garment bib for the use of such children, irrespective of whether the child is in conventional parlance considered to be a baby, a toddler or by another designation.

Bibs are of course well known and available in a wide variety of different types. A common problem encountered with all of these different types of bibs is that some infants apparently do not wish to have them tied around their necks, which is the conventional manner of fastening a bib, and tug at the thus-tied bib until it becomes dislodged or until the ties break. Other infants tend to move the bib about so that it can no longer fulfill its function of protecting the underlying garment.

These and other problems make it appear desirable .to provide an improved bib construction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide an infants garment bib which avoids the aforementioned problems and constitutes an improvement over what is known from the art.

A further object of the present invention is to provide such an infants garment bib which is provided with threedimensional decorative resilient appliqus.

A concomitant object of the invention is to provide such infants garment bib which is impermeable to liquid.

In pursuance of these and other objects of the present invention which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides in an infants garment bib which, briefiystated, comprises a garment portion for clothing at least the torso of an infant and having a neck opening and a front side. A bib portion is provided on the front side surrounding in part the neck opening and being integral with the garment portion.

It will be appreciated that the garment portion need of course not merely clothe the torso of the child-that it be a shirt, blouse or the like-but that it could also be a garment to clothe the entire child, such as a jumper, a coverall or the like.

The bib portion is of synthetic plastic material which is bonded to the garment portion so as to be integral therewith. According to one aspect of the present invention the bib portion comprises at least two layers, namely a layer of synthetic plastic sheet material overlying the front side of the garment portion, and interposed be tween them a layer of synthetic foam material, of fibrous sliver or the like, which constitutes padding. The two layers and the garment portion are bonded together along lines which constitute the contour line of a desired appliqu. One of these lines is the outline of the bib, so that the bib in effect constitutes an appliqu. Other lines outline specific details of the appliqu, for instance of a fawn, a sun, a moon, or the like. For reinforcing purposes and for making the bib portion liquid-impermeableif the latter is not already the case by virtue of the outer layer of synthetic plastic materialan inner layer of synthetic plastic material may be provided at the interior of the front side, and this will then be bonded to the garment portion and to the other two layers along the aforementioned lines.

Pictorial representations may be provided on the outer layer of sheet material, or if the latter is translucent or transparent, they may be provided on the inner layer of foam or analogous material. Again, they may be provided partly on the inner and partly on the outer layer. The outer layer may be stippled to give it a frosted appearance, or it may be embossed or otherwise treated in a desired manner. The outer layer may be of any desired color, or if it is transparent or translucent, the inner layer may be of any desired color. Evidently, the outer layer itself may have a color even if it is transparent or translucent, or alternately it may be clear.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of preferred embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic plan view of an infants garment bib according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary section taken on the line IIII of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the drawing in detail and firstly FIG. 1 thereof, it will be seen that reference numeral 1 identifies the illustrated infants garment bib in toto. Reference numeral 2 specifically identifies the garment portion of the bib audit will be seen that this garment portion is here illustrated as a T-shirt which may be of various different materials, including knitted material or the like. It is provided with a neck opening 3 which is in part surrounded by a bib portion 5 located on the front side 4 of the garment portion 2.

Reference numeral 6 indicates an appliqu in form of a half-moon figure provided on the bib portion 5. As FIG. 2 shows,..the appliqu here comprises two layers of material located at the outer side of the front side 4 of the garment portion 2, and one layer located at the inner side. Directly overlying the outer side is a layer =8 of resiliently compressible padding material, here a synthetic plastic foam. Overlying the layer 8, in turn, is a layer 9 of sheet material, also a synthetic plastic but not of foam type. The layer 7 which is located at the interior of the front side 4 of the garment portion 2, is also of synthetic plastic material but also not of foam type. At least one of the layers 7,, 8, 9 is latently adhesive, and in the illustrated embodiment it will be assumed that it is the layer 8, the synthetic plastic foam material which has this characteristic by virtue of the fact that it is thermoplastic. The layers are bonded to the garment portion 2 of textile material along the outer line 5a which constitutes in effect the outer contour line of an appliqu, and along the inner lines 5b which outline the half-moon shaped configuration evident from FIG. 1. Thus, the applique so produced is raised and padded, that is three-dimensional and resilient, everywhere except along the lines 5a and 5b. Bonding of the layers to one another and to the garment portion 2 is effected by placing the garment portion 2 with the layers in their respective positions, onto a support and thereupon contacting the layers under pressure with a die having the lines 5a and 5b provided thereon in raised configuration. The die is heated and it responds to pressure contact therewith so that the material of the layer 8 melts along the lines 5a and 5b where it is contacted by the heated raised ridges of the die, and bonds to the layer 9, the garment portion 2 and bypassing in part through the same, to the layer 7.

It will be appreciated that it will be possible to reverse the illustrated arrangement and to have the layers bonded together in the areas which in FIG. 1 are outlined by the lines 5a and 51'), so that in these areas the appliqu will be flatbecause of melting of the foam of the layer 8-and in the areas identified by the lines 5a and 5b the applique would be raised. This would be accomplished simply by providing the heated die with a planar die face in which grooves are provided corresponding to the lines 5a and 5b, so that in the region of these grooves no pressure contact and little or no heat would be applied to the layers whereas over the remainder of the surface pressure and heat would be supplied to thereby produce this alternate applique.

Different materials are of course suitable for the garment bib according to the present invention. As mentioned before, synthetic plastic foam material could be used for the layer 8, as may be sliver, for instance on Dacron basis. Difierent designs or pictorial representations may be imprinted, painted or otherwise provided on the layer 9, on the layer 8 if the layer 9 is transparent or translucent, or on both of these layers if desired. Different colors may be utilized and, as a further possibility, an additional layer may be placed over the layer 9 and may be provided with cut-outs along whose periphery it is bonded to the layer 9 so that the layer 9 is visible through such cut-outs. Thus, the layer 9 may have a different color for instance from the color of the additional layer, so that this different color of the layer 9 is visible through the cut-outs in the additional layer.

A host of different possibilities will suggest itself readily to those skilled in the art. It is intended that all such possibilities be encompassed by the claims appended hereto.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in an infants garment bib, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims:

1. Infants garment bib, comprising a fabric garment portion for clothing at least the torso of an infant and having a neck opening and a front side; and a bib portion on said front side surrounding in part said neck opening and being integral with said garment portion, said bib portion comprising a layer of synthetic plastic sheet material on said front side of said fabric garment portion and a layer of compressible thermoplastic filler material sandwiched between said layer of synthetic plastic sheet material and said fabric garment portion, said thermoplastic filler material operating to bond said synthetic plastic sheet material to said fabric garment portion along at least a circumferentially extending narrow annular zone.

2. Infants garment bib as defined in claim 1, wherein said layer of sheet material is liquid-impermeable.

3. Infants garment bib as defined in claim 1, wherein said layer of sheet material is provided with a pictorial representation.

4. Infants garment bib as defined in claim 1, wherein said layer of sheet material is at least translucent; and wherein said layer of filler material is provided with a pictorial representation viewable through said layer of sheet material.

5. Infants garment bib as defined in claim 1, wherein said layer of compressible filler material is synthetic plastic foam material.

6. Infants garment bib as defined in claim 1; said bib portion being provided at the exterior of said front side; and said bib portion further comprising an additional layer of sheet material provided at the interior of said front side and bonded to the first-mentioned layers along said line and through said garment portion.

7. Infants garment bib as defined in claim 6, wherein said additional layer is liquid-impervious synthetic plastic material.

8. Infants garment bib as defined in claim 1, wherein said layer of filler material is a fibrous sliver.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,580,388 1/1952 Allen 249 2,38,758 6/1958 Townley 2-49 2,922,164 1/1960 Liff 249 FOREIGN PATENTS 905,180 9/1962 Great Britain 3-49 H. HAMPTON HUNTER, Primary Examiner 

